Manifestation
"You are living in two realities now, the reality of manifestation and the reality of the Mystery." [1]
"God is pointing you to the Mystery, not to the manifestation." [2]
Confusion of levels
"Treat the manifestation practically, wisely, using the wisdom and the skills you have developed and be open to developing more skill and wisdom here, for you will greatly need it. But do not confuse the Mystery with the manifestation. The manifestation you must understand and can understand to a very great degree, but the Mystery is the Mystery. It exceeds your capacity. It is bigger than you are. It is bigger than the world." [3]
"Do not confuse Mystery and manifestation. This means that when you are dealing with physical things, deal with them physically. Understand the process of how they work. This becomes very obvious when you think about it, but it is incredible how people do not do this very much and how ineffectual they are as a result. If your car breaks down, do not deal with it spiritually. Do not make it a religious experience! You may have a religious experience that is related to the car breaking down, but it does not fix the car. If you break your arm, do not deal with it as a religious experience. It is a mechanical problem. Perhaps your reasons for breaking your arm go much further, but in terms of repair, do the repair. Do not think of mechanical things as mysterious things. This gives them a value and a meaning that they do not have because the Mystery is much greater and goes beyond the manifestation of things. Do you know what happens when people confuse manifestation with Mystery? They become entranced with marvelous things and they miss the obvious. Their imagination takes over." [4]
"The problem with religions is that they are at war with each other’s manifestations and assumptions. That is not a problem for individuals who are grounded in religious experience. But people who are relating only to the manifestation will compete with one another and threaten one another because at this level of existence there is only identification with ideas. Here they will not want to challenge their own ideas because then the whole foundation of their identity will be threatened. That is a very mindless state and many people live there. If you think of religion only in terms of its manifestations—which are the behaviors exhibited by those who profess to believe in it, its tenets and its impact on people’s lives— then you are only dealing with religion as a political force.[4]
References
- ↑ The Mysterious Path to Revelation (February 18, 2009)
- ↑ The New Message on Religion (July 20, 2009)
- ↑ The Mystery (June 8, 2010)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume Two, Chapter 13, Religion as Mystery